FLORA OF THE SAVANNAHS. 401 



grasses and cyperoids, together with a slight sprinkling of con- 

 volvuli, hibisci, sesbanise, echites, and a few others, characterise 

 these tracts ; as they stretch towards the interior and the high 

 woods, these plants become mixed up with grasses of a finer kind 

 — an Ambrosia, Malachra, Mimosa, &c. Next to the above 

 comes the savannah on the eastern side of the island, at a rather 

 considerable distance from the sea. Here again the principal 

 growth is of grasses and cyperoids, but of a different kind, 

 though those of the former are not altogether excluded ; but the 

 finer sorts are more prevalent here, and the whole district bears 

 a different appearance, particularly as this savannah is enlivened 

 by the mauritia palm. There exists, in its vicinity, an extensive 

 swamp covered with many trees, among which I have remarked 

 the Virola in great numbers, together with the Moronodea of 

 Aublet. Here also is to be found a splendid Crinum, from eight 

 to ten feet high when in bloom, the umbel of flowers measuring 

 more than a foot in diameter. 



The savannah of Aripo differs from the above-mentioned ; it 

 is, in the interior, subject to periodical but partial inundations, 

 and covered with grasses and herbs altogether different, and, to 

 the naturalist, of a much higher interest than the former speci- 

 mens. The soil is a kind of sand covered with vegetable detritus. 

 It is impossible to describe the feelings of the botanist when 

 arriving at a field like this, so much unlike anything he has ever 

 before seen. Here are full-blowing large orchids, with red, 

 white, and yellow flowers ; and, among the grasses, smaller ones 

 of great variety and as great scientific interest ; melastomaceous 

 ! plants of various genera {Arthrosiemma and Osbeckia) — utricu- 

 ; krias, droseras, rare and various grasses, and cyperoids of small 

 | sizes and fine kinds, with a species of Cassytha ; in the water, 

 Ceratophyllum and bog-mosses. Such a variety of forms and 

 colours is nowhere else to be seen, or met with, in the island. 

 This scenery is enlivened by groves of moriche and cabbage palms, 

 growing here and there in great luxuriance in the more inun- 

 dated spots. 



The transition from this kind of savannah to the dry savannahs 

 of the plain, or plateau, is exemplified in those known by the 

 name of O'Mara and Piarco. They do not exhibit that variety 

 of plants which adorn those already mentioned, but they still 

 retain the same striking features, and the soil is undoubtedly of 



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